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Software and hardware

Getting started

Most software and hardware that you will be using in your job will be provided for you by your department. Departments use HokieMart for routine purchases of hardware, and Departmental Software Distribution for routine purchases of desktop software.

More information

Select titles of software have been negotiated with vendors for individual sale to faculty and staff members. Information on these is also available on www.ita.vt.edu.

To participate in programs to refresh your computing hardware, instructional faculty are eligible under the program in the Networked Learning Initiative’s “12 over 4” program. Participants must earn 12 NLI credits over 4 years. Faculty and staff with administrative duties using Banner may be eligible under the ACC/Banner distribution program. Search for “ACC” on www.computing.vt.edu.

lynda.vt.edu, the online tutorial service, has sessions on most commonly used desktop software.

“Cloud” services are available for individual and for collaboration. In addition to email, VT Google Apps for Education includes Calendar, Docs, Sites, Contacts, and Talk. Office 365 (Microsoft) is also available, providing collaborative versions of Office software, including OneDrive for Business,SharePoint Online and Skype for Business.

For information technology professionals

Help your department ensure that software and information technology service procurements—even small or no-cost ones—follow university policies and standards, including the IT Procurement standard.

Information Technology has established a university-level presence for SharePoint Online. To build your departmental use of the SharePoint service, see the SharePoint Online site.

Virginia Tech offers a Web hosting service free of charge to colleges, departments, and service units. This service provides a way to maintain a Web presence without the labors and costs involved in maintaining a machine.

The Application Load Balancing service distributes the network traffic for a particular service across multiple physical and/or virtual servers. From the users perspective, this pool of servers appears to be a single server. The secure, stable, monitored environment improves server utilization, maximizes service availability, and supports both IPv4 and IPv6. To order or for specification and pricing information, contact cssnis@vt.edu.